Nuremberg International Trade Fair gold and silver medalist Wu Yi-shan (吳懿珊) has a spirit of practical experimentation and her achievements could serve as a role model for Taiwanese students, the Hsinchu Department of Education said.
The trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany, which was established in 1948, is famous for being the first exhibition for new products and inventions, the department said.
With more than 12 international exhibition halls displaying all types of inventions throughout the year, the fair is known for its strict and impartial assessments, making it one of the most authoritative exhibitions in the world, it said.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Wu loves to observe and think about how to help alleviate difficulties, the department said.
For one of her inventions, she substituted the sponge her maternal grandmother used to grow vegetables with more natural and biodegradable substances, it said.
The material is not only more environmentally friendly, but also provides sufficient water to the plants via the capillary effect, the department added.
For her other invention, Wu created a car cover that would only cover the engine hood and prevent scratching through the use of plastic hooks and nylon strings, the department said.
Wu’s father often parks outside or under trees, leaving it susceptible to insects that like to build nests under the hood, it added.
The department said it would continue to promote education that emphasizes practical experimentation to bring children closer to science.
Hopefully, more students will create inventions through observation and experimentation to solve issues that people encounter in their daily lives, department Deputy Director Huang Yu-mei (黃玉梅) said.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week